Letter from Susan M. Pepin—Advancing Community Resilience

October 12, 2016

Earlier this year, Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust, in partnership with Institute for Sustainable Communities (ISC), convened a series of interviews, focus groups, and workshops on the topic of community resilience. The Trust wanted to learn firsthand from the community about regional efforts underway aimed at building resiliency in our nonprofit community and social sectors—our social profit sector as we like to call it. We sincerely thank the more than 200 individuals representing arts and culture, social services, healthcare, education, philanthropy, the private sector, and local and state government, for sharing perspectives, ideas, and candor; the contributions from these various dialogues are the impetus for this new report, Building Community Resilience in Maricopa County, and we are pleased to share it with you today.
Piper Trust remains dedicated to its mission, which is to support organizations that enrich health, well-being, and opportunity for the people of Maricopa County. In an effort to enhance our work, the Trust has engaged ISC over the next several years to help us strengthen community resilience and social cohesion through our grantmaking and initiatives.

I am humbled every day by the community’s collective work to serve others and improve quality of life for all and look forward to your partnership in this highly collaborative endeavor. Please feel free to contact us at resilience@pipertrust.org with your thoughts about this new report and building community resiliency.